What Mother Russia Demands
by meilimingzi
Summary: Nikolai is King and the Prince has died. The Vory is crumbling, and soon Nikolai will be able to go home. But can he stay away from Anna? Does he really want too?
1. Chapter 1

_This is my first Eastern Promises story. It will be multiple chapters long. I hope everyone enjoys and reviews. No flames though, just constructive criticisms. Enjoy! _

Click, click, click...

The sound of worry beads clashing against each other, as my hand mindlessly flicks back and forth. I have been letting my mind get away from me lately. Mostly about a certain woman. Anna...

I can remember the last time I caressed her face, that night beside the Thames, I can remember the last time I touched her creamy hand, starkly contrasted against the scars, callouses and tattoos on mine. Our touch has lingered just a second too long. They were the hands of a woman who had never known the hardship of life behind the iron curtain. They were the hands of a woman whose father and uncle wanted to make sure she never knew the hardships of life in Russia.

My thoughts float to her more than ever these days. Semyon was prosecuted and faces the rest of his life in prison. Kirill, on the other hand, came up dead not long ago. Alcohol poisoning. Time had passed so fast yet so slow. I remember her and Christine I remember how Anna's sense of justice nearly saw her killed. Christine, little Christine, so close to death herself. I thank God for Kirill's weaknesses.

Kirill's weaknesses... they are the reason that I am sitting on the throne. The reason the mole is in charge. Slowly, the Vory V Zakone has been crumbling. Police raids here, arrests there, and no one knows who the leaker is. All I have had to do is sit back and watch. The sooner the Vory crumbles, the closer I am to going home. The closer I am to being able to see Anna again... No, I cannot tell myself that, I have to protest her, whatever the cost. There may be people after me forever.

But even as I say that to myself, I know that I will go to her. The kiss we shared beside the Thames was to promising. I remember her brown eyes, her blonde hair. I remember how confident she was on a motorbike. She was strong, courageous, the kind of woman you don't find in Russia. Anna was a Russian girl who thought and acted like a Brit.

I never met Anna's father, Ivan. I did not need too though because, unfortunately, we both knew what life behind the curtain had been like. We both would have done anything to protect Anna. We both loved the same woman, one of us like a father, the other like a lover. I did not need to know Ivan, because we both loved the same woman...

I had, however, become acquainted with Stephan, Anna's voracious Russian uncle. He had not been fond of me, back in the restaurant. Then again he was the kind of man that showed fear through anger. That fear had abated somewhat when I had installed him in Scotland to keep him from being killed. He was never told **who** I really was, but he had spent enough time in the KGB to know **what** I was. An agent. I learned from him, during the ride to Scotland, that he had been deeper involved in the KGB than Anna and Helen were aware. As far as they knew, he was in the axillary. He had been far more involved than that, and so, no words were needed to convey who I was working for.

My head and heart were now warring with each other. What I would not give to run my lips across her once more. To hold her hand once again. To see the differences in us. Pure and tainted. Angel and demon.

I take solace from knowing that everything will be over soon. The Prince has died and the court will soon fall... and the King will be victorious.

_So this is the first chapter. The next will be the chapter where Anna and Nikolai/Mikhail meet again. I hope everyone enjoyed the first chapter of 'What Mother Russia Demands'. If you like this story, check out my other story 'I Would Never', which is in the Schindler's List fandom. Thanks! Review, review, review, review,review!_


	2. Chapter 2: Freedom

_Please forgive bad grammar and spelling_. _Sorry this took so long. I have had a little writers block. But I got this out finally. I hope everyone enjoys this. I don't feel this is my best work. But I did what I could with what I felt I had. I hope you enjoy! And please review! _

The wind was cool. October had brought a chill to the air. Winter was the only season in Russia, when there is less work to be done. Every moment of the year was spent preparing for winter. Winter was almost like God. Capable of wiping the Earth clean, readying it for spring, but also capable of taking lives.

Mother tended our pitiful garden. The government discouraged personal gardening. Collective farms had the full endorsement of the Kremlin, at the expense of the people. Mother was exhausted. We all were. And then all of a sudden, there was gunfire. My mother grabbed me to keep me from running to my father. The shots came from his garage. Zakhodim v dom i ostat'sya tam. Go!

I ran to the house, as my mother ran to the door of garage. From the living room window, I could see them drag my unconscious father away. My mother was terrified. She knew she may never see father again. They would take him away and he would rot in a Siberian prison. Whether he was guilty or not made no difference. As the men stepped back into their cars, the shorter of the two turned back and fired his pistol once. And like that, I was left totally alone in the world. Alone at 15.

Mikhail would never forget how he lost his mother. He would never forget laying her body into the frozen soil, to rest for eternity. He never saw his father again. Apparently, some official thought the rate my father charged to have his car fixed was too much. Never mind the fact that we were starving. His father died soon after in prison. Mikhail was left to do what he could to make it by. He sold illegal car parts, stole cabbages from collective farms, and had a rough start to adulthood. A rough childhood that lead him to the Crosses prison. Then later, to two more Siberian prisons. He had the tattoos on his body to show for his lawlessness. He really hadn't been kidding when he told Anna that if things were closed you just 'open them up'.

His main offense had been, however, the murder of the two agents who killed his mother and took his father. To a Russian, family meant everything, and he would do anything for family. When his mother died and his father was gone, he had nothing and so he made the two men pay for what they had done.

Sometimes, Stephan reminds him of the two men. He left though. He left Russia with his brother. Family meant everything to him too. That was something Mikhail could relate to. Mikhail had always hated the KGB. How he came to be in the FSB was a mystery. A man came to meet him so after release. He said he wanted to recruit me to do something I knew how to do. He said he wanted me to go undercover to stop members of the mafia that were terrorizing Western Europe. I agreed because it seemed the right thing to do and because I had nothing else.

He finally returns to the world of the living as she walks out of the hospital. He knows he probably shouldn't be here. But he had to see her one more time.

"Oh." was her only reply. He smiled. She was as beautiful as he remembered. "I thought you might like to get drink."He stands up and gestures toward his car.

"No, no thank you." she responds. She is flustered and possibly frightened. "I'll just walk home, thank you though." And with that she is walking away from him. Then a thought hits him. He should follow her home. There are too many villains on the street to let her walk alone. So he follows her from behind. Her hair is longer than last time and he decides he like it better.

She soon arrives at her house and disappears inside. He stops, knowing he will see her soon. He decides that he can't stop seeing her. This is the best he has felt in his life.

…...

One week later, he receives a call from Yuri. "Mikhail I have the best news. We caught Vladimir Dobrev, and the Russian desk has released you from your mission. Your a free man." This was the best news he had received in a long while. He was free. "Thank you Yuri, I will call you soon." "Of course, until we speak again."

So, once again, he finds himself outside the hospital. She walks out, carrying her purse and coat. "Oh damn. I really need to start carrying a can of mace. Leave me alone. Please!" "No, no you you misunderstand. I can tell you who I am now." This stops her dead in her tracks. "I'm listening."

Her smiles, glad she is willing to hear him out. "It would be easier if you allowed me to take you to dinner. There's much to tell." She takes a moment to think. She is obviously distraught. She still doesn't know who he is, and that frightens her. "Fine. But I'm calling my mother and telling her where I am going." He nods his head and she walks a distance away to call her mother.

A moment later she comes back. "Alright, where are we going?" "Where would you like to go?" She snorts and laughs. "I'm not the one paying. You are. You choose." He laughs with her. He drives into the street and they drive in silence. She doesn't know what to say, and he doesn't particularly want to say. As they pull up outside the door of another Russian restaurant. "Russian food. Are you trying to tell me something?" "I am just trying to show some good aspects of Russia." She follows him into the restaurant. They sit in a corner, away from the noise. "Would you like wine?" he asks, slightly out of his depth. "Yes please." She smiles at him and he at least feels like he has done something right. "What would you like to know?" She takes a moment to collect her thoughts. "Who are you?" He leans in and takes a drink of wine. "I am an FSB agent. My name is Mikhail Kimov. I have been working under cover to bring down the Mafia syndicates here in England."

There was a stunned silence. She opened and closed her mouth a few times. He waited patiently, even ordering her food for her. "So... That changes things." "Hmm," was his reply. He sincerely hoped it changed things. He hoped it meant a second date. "So you are a good guy?" she asked, trying to wrap her head around what she has been told. "Well, that depends on your definition of good. I spent 22 years in prison for murder. I killed the men who were responsible for the deaths of my parents. These tattoos are not fake. I really did earn them in prison. I have lied, stolen, conned... but if you are referring to me not being a mobster, than I am an angel."

She was so out of her depth. One the one hand, he isn't a mobster. On the other hand, he just admitted to two counts of murder, stealing, conning, and lying...

"So why do you tell me this now?" she asks, and he swirls the rest of his wine in his glass. "I tell you now, because I want to take you on another date. For this to go anywhere, I have to tell you these things. I would like to settle down. You know, work a job where I don't have to cut of a mans fingers."

She laughed. She was so shocked. How can a man be so charming even as he talk about cutting off a mans fingers. If she didn't watch herself she would fall for this guy. He watched her. He was happy she was taking this so well. He was worried she would freak out.

"How is Christine?" he asked her. He had not seen the baby since that night by the Thames. She looked up, having been lost in thought. "She is doing good. She is talking a little, and trying to walk." He nodded, happy she was doing well.

They continue to eat in relative silence and when they are done, he pays and they leave. He drives her home, and as she steps out of the car, he stops her. "I would like to take to dinner again. How about Saturday?" "Okay," she says, unsure why she didn't just tell him no. She shouldn't see him. He is still a wild card. She doesn't know a lot about him. He nods, glad she will give him another dinner date. "I will call you." And with that, he drives away, and she is more confused than ever. "Oh dear."

…...

Go to the house and stay there. Go! (translation for the Russian in paragraph 2. )

_Thanks so much! Please review!_


	3. Update

I have not forgotten this story. I am currently working through some writers block, but I hope to update soon. Thank you to everyone who had encouraged me to continue. There may only be one more chapter to this story though. I don't know yet. I want to leave it on a slight note of mystery. I am not sure how I will do that though, so just hold tight and I will update. Thanks a million! - meilimingzi


	4. Chapter 3

Mikhail could see it as if it were real, right in front of him. He could see the snow falling from the heavens,caressing the ground like a whisper. He could see a house in the country, near Lake Baikal, where they would raise their children. The gardens would be overflowing with greenery come spring.

And there she would be. As beautiful as she was on the day he first saw her. Wearing a red dress and headscarf, she would beckon him to the car so they could make their way to church. Christine would be dressed similarly, a miniature of the woman who had been her mother from the beginning. Anna would be holding their newest family addition on her hip, a son named Viktor.

Mikhail could see a life with her. He could see a future he had never allowed himself to yearn for in his youth. He had never allowed himself to want for a wife and children, and now he can see it. He can see her in a white, traditional Russian wedding dress. He can see her standing inside the empty house they would call home, biting her lip trying to figure out where to put things. He can see her gardening in the spring, hoeing in the summer, and harvesting in the fall. He can imagine her in his arms in the winter, the simile on her face as she tells him about the impending arrival of their first son, proposing to her back in London, asking her uncle for her hand, their first Christmas together when they bought 2 presents for each other (one for opening in the presence of polite company, the other for when they were alone.)

Mikhail's eyes open. The moon shines down through the lace curtains of his room. He turns his head to the side an sees Anna. He hears her breathing, sees the rise and fall of her chest, and realizes in that moment... he hadn't been dreaming at all.

_This is the last chapter. This was one of my first stories, and I appreciate all the encouragement and reviews I have received. I tried to leave it at a happy point. The thing that gets me every time I watch the movie, is that last scene with him and her by the Thames. You can see in his eyes everything he wants to say to her and can't. And you can see the pain on her face too. I wanted to give them something happy. I hope I achieved that. Thank you! _


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